The Blue Jays own the most prolific offence in the major leagues. They scored 891 runs in 2015, a staggering 127 runs more than their closest pursuer, the New York Yankees.

What’s more, they are returning with a lineup that has potential to be even more destructive, adding the bats of Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Saunders to the mix for what the club hopes will be the entire season.

Not since the 2009 Yankees scored 915 runs has any team in baseball scored more runs than the Blue Jays did last year, but that doesn’t stop manager John Gibbons from having at least a few misgivings about his lineup construction.

The lineup has a heavy righthanded bias. Saunders and second baseman Ryan Goins are the only left-side-only hitters, while first baseman Justin Smoak is the team’s only switch-hitter this year. There are times when Gibbons would like to be able to break up that steady flow of righthanded hitters but it’s really not either possible or logical.

If Gibbons, as expected, opts for Kevin Pillar as his regular leadoff man, the top five in the Toronto lineup will be, on most days, right-handed hitters.

And when you think about it, what can you say negatively about a lineup that will, on any given day, slot hitters with the quality of a Saunders or a Colabello or a Martin in the No. 8 hole?

“I don’t know if you can do much to break up the line of righties,” said Gibbons. “It was a bit of concern going into last year but it didn’t hinder us. It’s not ideal. It makes it easy for the other team to set up their bullpen against us. Our righties can hit righties pretty good but occasionally we run into a tough one who can shut us down. As a manager, you’d like to have a left-handed bat to split things up. But that’s not the way we’re built.”

If the club opted for Domonic Brown or Darrell Ceciliani, both left-handed bats, as its fourth outfielder, it might give him a pinch-hitting option in crucial spot late in a game.

In the brief snapshots we’ve seen of Saunders this season, he has shown some power, launching three homers in his first 11 at-bats. Gibbons has suggested that Saunders, as well as Pillar, might be a leadoff option. Saunders missed most of the 2015 season with a knee problem but in 2013 and 2014, he had the two best on-base percentage seasons of his career. He can also steal a base and has excellent base running instincts. Gibbons expects Saunders to be at one end of the order or the other.

“The way I envision it right now, I don’t see him breaking anything up (in the middle of the lineup) but he is going to be valuable, wherever he is hitting for us,” said Gibbons.

Pillar has been lobbying for the leadoff job ever since Ben Revere was traded to Washington for reliever Drew Storen and he’ll probably get his chance to prove he’s the man for the job, even though his walk rates are not what you might like in a leadoff man. In 860 plate appearances as a big-leaguer, he has just 36 walks. In 2015, Pillar batted anywhere between fifth and ninth, but mostly he was either eighth (80 times) or seventh (49 times).

“Sometimes you have to base things on what you see in spring training but that’s not always a reliable barometer,” said Gibbons. “Track record matters and Kevin has already done a lot of good things for us in the big leagues, so that counts for a lot.”

However, the lineup eventually maps out, it will once again be an opportunistic, explosive thing to behold.

“It is an intimidating lineup to face but there are a lot of lineups that are tough from our end, too,” said Gibbons. “It’s a tough lineup to navigate without a whole lot of breathing room, especially trying to get through the middle of that order. It works to our advantage. A lot of times pitchers come out of the gate and they’re not real sharp and we can take advantage. We did that a lot last year, take advantage early before they settle in and all of a sudden you’ve got a big early lead.”

As good as the Blue Jays offence was in 2015, it didn’t start translating into steady victories until after the 100-game mark. After 100 games in 2015, the Jays were only 50-50. The defensive additions they made at the end of July was the trigger a 43-19 finishing kick.

“I’m excited about our offence,” said Gibbons, “but I’m especially excited about seeing our offence now that we have a great defence to protect some of those early leads.”

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